Sarcastic Counselling?
On a slightly more interesting note, or perhaps one that won’t require the scorn of my one and a half readers. I’ve been loving Paul’s (that’s Paul of the Bible variety) sarcastic counselling methods recently.
Sarcastic counselling is best practised by my brother, who employs it with abandon in my direction, a typical conversation could go something like this:
Kath (moaning)– “I’m so rubbish, how can I ever come back to God, how could he take me back again”.
Mark (deadpan with sarcastic undertones): “Yes, you are the only person that has sinned too much, the only person beyond God’s love, God could never forgive you, I think he could never love you again, He’s not all full of grace and love really.”
Kath realises how ridiculous this makes her sound, and remembers that God does actually love her, and wants her back right now.
It works well. Paul uses this method lots when it comes to the Galatian Christians. I am particularly enjoying his questions in chapter 3.
“I would like to learn just one thing from you, did you receive the Spirit by observing the Law or by believing what you have heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit are you now trying to attain your goal through human effort? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law or because you believe what you heard?”
The answer to each one of those questions is glaringly obvious when stated like that. And yet I need someone to be that sarcastic with me. To point out the glaringly obvious, because I do try and attain stuff by my own effort, I do sometimes think it’s about my ability to follow God’s commands instead of gratefully accepting and believing in the God who became a curse for me. It’s about nothing I can do, and everything that He has done. It makes no sense for me to try and get the Spirit on my own effort, or try and make God work his miracles because of my ability to keep commandments. It makes every sense to hold out my hands and receive the gift based on a promise that had everything to do with God’s ability to keep it and not mine. Now that’s freedom, that’s joy. That is real life.
Sarcastic counselling is best practised by my brother, who employs it with abandon in my direction, a typical conversation could go something like this:
Kath (moaning)– “I’m so rubbish, how can I ever come back to God, how could he take me back again”.
Mark (deadpan with sarcastic undertones): “Yes, you are the only person that has sinned too much, the only person beyond God’s love, God could never forgive you, I think he could never love you again, He’s not all full of grace and love really.”
Kath realises how ridiculous this makes her sound, and remembers that God does actually love her, and wants her back right now.
It works well. Paul uses this method lots when it comes to the Galatian Christians. I am particularly enjoying his questions in chapter 3.
“I would like to learn just one thing from you, did you receive the Spirit by observing the Law or by believing what you have heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit are you now trying to attain your goal through human effort? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law or because you believe what you heard?”
The answer to each one of those questions is glaringly obvious when stated like that. And yet I need someone to be that sarcastic with me. To point out the glaringly obvious, because I do try and attain stuff by my own effort, I do sometimes think it’s about my ability to follow God’s commands instead of gratefully accepting and believing in the God who became a curse for me. It’s about nothing I can do, and everything that He has done. It makes no sense for me to try and get the Spirit on my own effort, or try and make God work his miracles because of my ability to keep commandments. It makes every sense to hold out my hands and receive the gift based on a promise that had everything to do with God’s ability to keep it and not mine. Now that’s freedom, that’s joy. That is real life.
posted by Kath at 9:34 pm
2 Comments:
Its the way forward!
The alternative method is the Nehemiah approach - but you don't have a beard... Or does that only apply to wrong living not wrong thinking???
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